The Second Coming Of The Wild West…

Let’s face it, we have the second coming of the Wild West out in Western North Dakota. It just isn’t the same place as it was a few years back – with the oil patch has come a different identity.

But folks are getting rich and the State of North Dakota is benefitting economically – doesn’t it go to follow that this a good thing for North Dakota? Well, I hate to be the one to rain on anyone’s parade, but I wonder whether we are going in the right direction with this. I think we may have lost our way in this situation and in the process I think we have lost control. The North Dakota that long-time locals know and love is quickly fading into a memory.

Not that we can turn back time and say, “Ah shucks, we are just gonna’ sit on this oil – we value our way of life more than money.” All that is left to do at this point is to start from where we are and try and get back some of that which has been lost to us. There needs to be some serious strategic planning done in regard to the oil patch and its impact on the State of North Dakota. And note, strategic planning is not just throwing a bucketload of money into community infrastructure items like roads, first responders, and court operations. Strategic planning needs to look beyond the basic growth needs and toward the community it wants to foster and develop. It also must look across the entire state and adjoining states to appreciate the ripple effect of actions. This planning requires an aggressive team that isn’t afraid to create a strong framework for the future…a framework that puts primacy on maintaining the character of North Dakota.

Money isn’t everything. I would argue that on most North Dakotans’ lists of priorities money isn’t even in the top three – try family, health and happiness (likely followed by quality of life, lefse, and hunting). 😉

The solutions to the oil patch’s challenges long-term must be tied to North Dakota’s identity. Those solutions need to be crafted now before the oil patch extracts more than oil – before it extracts who we are – our North Dakota essence, which cannot be replaced by any amount of money.

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3 Responses

PrairieWoman

Don’t even get me started about this. I am madder than hell about what is happening to the people out there. Not everyone is benefiting from the oil boom – a.k.a. disaster filled with people as collateral damage, like the elderly, disabled, non-landowners etc. People afraid to leave their property, toting guns like vigilantes, and the pressure cooker is heating up.

Brings to mind the saying: Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Only this time it won’t be just a business, farm, or individual – it will be the whole state. Sorry to rant on your page, but I am just so disheartened and disgusted by the events out there.

I’m with you, Ms. C and Prairiewoman. If ever a situation called for outrage and ranting, this is it. Isn’t mass insanity just as much an emergency as a an earthquake, tornado, tsunami or terrorist attack? And how bad does it have to get before there is no remedy or recovery possible?

Google Clay Jenkinson’s columns in the Bismarck Tribune and his other writing about his beloved North Dakota. He has insights.
We cannot go back, even though some would like, but we cannot destroy the future either. We will always need water, air and clean land.

ABOUT

Hi, I am Ms. C.

I teach at NDSU...but I remain a student of life with all the enthusiasm that entails. My favorite saying is, "Sometimes you have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down." In the new forty that is what I am doing - building my wings. Please feel free to join me.